To find Bar Magda, seek out the nondescript black door marked with an X on Cross St. Open it, descend the staircase, and you’ll find yourself in a bunker-like space that has a cosy reddish glow, partitioned by curtains into various dining and bar spaces.

The magic of Magda lies in its sense of place. The menu, divided into sections — To Start, Something Cold, Something Hot and a banquet-style sharing option — was conceived by chef and co-owner Carlo Buenaventura. Dish by dish, Buenaventura draws on his distinctive vision of Filipino food: blending his experience of the foods of his homeland, especially those of Mindanao, in the southern Philippines, with the ingredients of Aotearoa. He’s not aiming at recreating the traditional, and yet his food has a fidelity to the spirit of Filipino cuisine by way of flavour profiles and cooking methods.

Techniques like sutukil — a fusion of su (charcoal grilling), tu (braising) and kilaw (marinating in vinegars and juices), commonly used in casual restaurants in the Philippines — form the backbone of the menu. Buenaventura’s approach revises such typical Filipino dishes as tocino (grilled cured pork), suglaw (pork belly with ceviche) and our standout favourite, kilaw. Magda’s version of this last presents coconut-vinegar-marinated Hokkaido scallops in a pool of beurre blanc with pops of citrusy sansho. 

Drinks are given almost as much attention as the food, with a whole lot of atypical yet exceptionally well-crafted cocktail concoctions (we especially like those from the Something Sour part of the menu) and a bountiful wine list, with options from local makers and others more far-flung. Best of all, with Bar Magda’s late closing times (they’re sometimes open well into the early hours of the morning), there’s absolutely no rush to choose.